Chargers: AFC West Power Rankings after start of league year
By Jason Reed
1. Los Angeles Chargers
-
Key Additions: Virgil Green, Caleb Sturgis
-
Key Losses: Kenny Wiggins, Jeremiah Attaochu
Like I said earlier, the off-season has been very uneventful for the Los Angeles Chargers. The good thing though is that this uneventful off-season has led to very minimal losses for the Chargers. Obviously, LA is working on extending their own talent so that, hopefully, Tre Boston is not another loss.
More from LA Sports Hub
- Lakers: 5 Players to Target Through Trades to make another championship run
- LA Chargers: Week 8 against Denver Broncos is a must-win
- LA Rams: Jared Goff wants to keep the Los Angeles title streak going
- Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles Clippers interested in Rajon Rondo
- LA Chargers: Justin Herbert wins AFC Rookie of the Month
The losses the Chargers do have though will not have much of an impact, either. Jeremiah Attaochu can be easily replaced with a fifth-round draft pick and Kenny Wiggins will be replaced by the injured, second-round pick, Forrest Lamp.
With that being said, though, the additions have not been that big, either. Virgil Green is a nice tight end to pick up to run in heavy packages as a run-blocker. While he may not be too involved in the passing game, his impact on run-blocking will be seen in LA.
The Chargers did go out and address their one Achilles’ heel from last season; the kicker. Caleb Sturgis’ job on the Eagles was stolen by Jake Elliot last season. Sturgis is still a very solid kicker, making 81 percent of his field goal attempts in his career.
I am hopeful for what the Chargers will do this off-season to turn this team into a Super Bowl contender. However, even before those moves are made, they seem to be the best team in the AFC West. That pass-rush is one of the best in the game and a secondary that adds a returning Jason Verrett will be very hard to throw on.
The receiving core is still deep, Melvin Gordon is still leading the way out of the backfield and veteran Philip Rivers is still the play-caller. LA got hot at the end of last season, that will continue into next season.
Next: Tweaking the Chargers' 2017 Draft